What are you doing between the 11th and 14th of October? If you’re reading this you’re probably in the art world and if you’re in the art world, you’ll probably be at Frieze.
You will probably also stop in at Zoo – hosted by the Royal Academy this year – formally the younger, edgier fair; now a very similar beast with stricter criteria and almost as famous.
Both are glamorous, both are exciting and both are cash cows.
But across the river something else is happening. Simon Pittuck and Andrew Clarkin of the Keith Talent Gallery in London Fields are gearing up for the second year of their own fair, Year_07.
Driven by disillusion with the conventional fairs and a genuine desire to work with other galleries and artists, they set up Year_06 last year in an Arts and Crafts building in Tavistock Place.
They meant to move away from the idea of a fair organised by fair organisers and towards one that was gallerist/artist sympathetic. They wanted to look after their fellow dealers in a way that they felt other fairs had not. It was a friends of friends situation at first, finding like-minds who had either lost enthusiasm for the conveyor belt feeling of the larger international fairs or finding galleries from abroad, a lot of them from New York, who might not have otherwise had the chance to bring their work to London.
Last year worked well, thirty-two galleries exhibited. This year looks phenomenal, the number of galleries signed up has nearly doubled.
They have also moved to County Hall, a grand space about which they are ecstatic about taking over. Pittuck and Clarkin are quite consciously moving away from the “white cube” mode of display. They wholly agree that Frieze, Zoo and Scope serve a real purpose and have centred attention on London as a major cultural hub. Simon would say culture is our biggest export.
But their problem with the enormous fairs is twofold – first the nature of the space dedicated to the art, as it is always problematic to work with. And second that even when they did take part in Scope New York in 2005, their booth was right next to those of other British galleries they knew very well. There was no possibility of a cross-fertilisation of ideas or artists.
With Year_07 they have managed to get a wide variety of galleries and artists into one of the most prestigious spaces in London. People are impressed when they say they have secured it. Andrew laughs this off: “we just rang them up and hired it”, he sniggers.
With galleries converging on County Hall from New York, Palermo, Cologne and New Delhi the scale of the project soon becomes apparent and the potential for forming connections with other galleries endless.
There is a large American collector base – particularly interested in buying up and coming British works and this tailor made fair should draw them in. But Pittuck and Clarkin remain philosophical and earnest. The space is important to them but not just because of its central location.
Many of the artists and galleries involved have been asked to work with the architecture of the building in the conception of their pieces and displays. Many will be site specific – with some galleries bringing a single piece. Simon is very keen to underline the importance of this: “there’s no point giving a gallery a nice big white wall when they want to show off some sculpture”.
Their own artists, Bob Matthews, Adam Gillam and Jack Duplock, will be creating on site projects for the fair. They want to allow participating galleries as much aesthetic freedom as possible, there is no overriding ideology and their approach is more like that of a biennale or project space. They are not “trying to be cool” says Andrew but “it’s as much a show as a fair”. The visual experience, it seems, is as important as the sale.
But, of course, the sale is important. It is still a commercial venture. The more visible the fair becomes the more people are likely to pop over from Regents Park.
Last year, Anita Zabludowicz came, which is a seal of approval from the establishment art world in itself. This year they’re hoping to attract a wider range of cliental with the big collectors as well as those with interest and a little disposable cash.
Their fresh approach to the fair format will hopefully do just that.
